Puppet Strings
by SlightlyCrazyYetSane
Summary: Then, I too crumple, like a puppet that has had its strings cut, on top of my husband, my grip on his hand still firm.- Please R&R! Remus and Tonks final moments before they're killed.


**A/N: ****So, I've had this idea in my mind for a while. Finally got round to writing this. This is my first time writing death like this, and this much angst, so I apologize if it isn't good. Thanks for clicking on this story! :D**

******I don't know if Jo's actually written about how Remus and Tonks have been killed, but this is my version.**

******Disclaimer: I own nothing! No matter how much I wish I did -_-**

* * *

**Puppet Strings**

My breathing is loud and harsh in my ears as I run through the ruined isle. Paintings that once held animated faces were empty, the wood of the frames gone, falling off of the half-destroyed walls. I jump over a piece of fallen glass from the window pane next to me, and bob and weave through more rubble. I look behind me to see Remus's tall body running right after me. His brown hair is flopping around as he runs, brown eyes clouded with desperation and fear, watching me intently as I run as fast as my legs will allow.

Every breath I take is painful, my lungs feeling as if they're going to burst apart. Spots dance around in front of my eyes, and I stumble a bit. My body will give out soon, and I can't do anything about it. Helplessness engulfs me, and I have the sudden urge to just lie down, accept the fact that I am going to _die_. To make this easier upon myself.

I remind myself _why_ I'm doing this. I'm doing this for Teddy. For Remus. For my mother. For Moody. For Sirius. I'm doing this so that we can _break free_ of this war. So that another generation can prosper, and be exempt from the pain and suffering that _we_ have felt. No, I _can't_ just _lie down_ and _die_. I have to keep on going. To keep on fighting. I _have_ to.

Remus stumbles behind me, and falls down onto his knees. He's in worst shape than I, since the full moon had been out just half a week before this.

"Remus!" I cry, though the sound is weak, even to my own ears.

"Go on, Tonks! Save yourself," he pants, "I'll hold them back. Teddy needs you. He can live without a father, but he _needs_ his mother."

"Damn it, Remus!" I yell, by his side, and the dam that I had built to hold back my tears cracks. Tears dribble down my face, dripping onto the floor, "I'm not going to leave you!"

"Leave me! GO!" Remus yells as loud as he can, but I stay by his side. I curse aloud once more, this time much stronger.

"NO! Stop telling me to leave, Remus! I'm not-"

I'm interrupted by an evil cackle, the one that had been ingrained into my mind.

"Found you! _Crucio_!" Bellatrix yells. Remus thrashes around in my arms, screaming in pain.

"NO!" I scream, and then turn to where Bellatrix is, pointing her wand at Remus, grinning maliciously, and yell, "STOP IT, YOU BITCH!"

This cycle had been going on for quite a while, for we had been disarmed quite early. She would catch us, torture us, and let us go. Playing around. _Toying_ with us, like a cat would with a mouse that it knows has been trapped. I had lost count of what time this was. Was it the fifth? Or maybe the sixth? I can't remember.

Bellatrix stops and turns toward me, and Remus goes limp in my arms,

"Oh, would you like some as well? Here you go, you _filthy_ blood traitor! _Crucio_!

My body is on fire. It felt as if a thousand hot knives were being repetitively stabbed into me. I couldn't breathe, I couldn't see, I couldn't speak. I could feel nothing but pain, pain, pain. I want this to _end_, because it _hurts. _It hurts _so much. _Distantly, I hear a bloodcurdling scream, laced with agony and misery. Only later do I realize it is my own.

And suddenly, it stops. I remind myself how to breathe. In. Out. In. Out. My own weak breathing fills my ears, racked with anguish.

"Had enough, have you?" Bellatrix's convulsive voice asks, filled with glee and delight, "Ready to beg for your own death?"

I don't reply. I _can't_ reply.

I can't see Bellatrix, for my eyelids are shut tight. I don't have enough energy to open them, but I hear her dress rustling, and then feel her warm breath on my left ear.

"You know what I think? I think you need to see death before you're ready to die yourself. How about that disgusting half-breed _husband_ of yours?" she whispers into my ear, and then I hear her dress rustle once more as she walks away. My brain finally registers what she had just said.

"No! Please, no! Not him… please. Take me… take me instead," I whisper, choking on my own tears. They couldn't kill him. Merlin, they couldn't kill him!

"Get up, you filth!" Bellatrix yells.

I cry out when Bellatrix pulls me up roughly by my hair, and my eyes flutter opened just in time to see Dolohov pointing his wand at Remus.

"Rennervate!" he yells, and Remus is brought back to consciousness. His head lolls around, until he finally lifts it and blinks his chocolate colored eyes at me.

"Now, let's see what happens when Dolohov uses a killing curse on him," Bellatrix says, glee and anticipation evident in her voice.

I am frozen, my brain not able to fully register what is happening, because this isn't happening. That _can't _be Remus lying there, helpless and small.

"AVADA KEDAVRA!" Dolohov yells, his face hooded by the mask, but I'm not paying attention to him.

"REMUS!" I scream, my voice bursting with agony, pain, misery, and I feel as if my heart is being ripped out of my chest. Tears are flowing freely down my face, and my breathing is choked, full with tears, for I was freely bawling now. The last thing I see is Remus's terrified, wide eyes, frantically searching for my own, before he goes limp and his chest stops moving.

Bellatrix lets me go, and I fall onto my knees, not being able to comprehend what has just happened. Merlin, this can't be happening. This _can't be happening_. I quickly pick myself up, and race toward Remus, not caring that Bellatrix is behind me, laughing at his death and my reaction.

I fall to my knees right next to him, shouting his name,

"Wake up, Remus! WAKE UP! Oh God, Remus... please, look at me. You can't be gone. You _can't _be gone. No, no, no, no, _no_. Please, Remus... Oh _God_," I moan, reduced to a whisper, choking on my own tears, shaking Remus's shoulder even though he has an oddly peaceful expression on his face, and I know he can't open his eyes. I want to see his eyes. I want to see his warm, brown eyes, looking at me, shining like they did when he was proud. I want to see him smile, want to see the same look of admiration and awe he had had when Teddy was born. Most of all, though, I want that determined look to return. The one that gave _me_ strength, that made _me_ believe that we could do this.

But he isn't opening his eyes. He isn't looking at me. He _isn't_ smiling. He. Was. _Dead_.

A strangled sound-a mix between a sob and a scream-rips out of my throat, and I turn to glare at Dolohov, the killer of my husband. I glare at the man that _I want to kill_. I reach for my wand, fully intending to Avada Kedavra the _bastard_ that has killed my husband, but then I remember that I can't, because I _don't have _my_ fucking _wand.

Bellatrix laughs once more, the sound hysterical, and I _hate_ that sound. Merlin, I wanted to _kill_ her too, because this is _all_ _her fault_.

"I know that look! Does my itsie-bitsie _niece_ want to _kill_? Look, Dolohov! Look at the _bloodlust_ in her eyes!" she says, gleeful and joyous, and _damnit!_ I want to claw her face off.

"I think that it's time for you to join that filthy half-breed husband of yours, _blood-traitor_," Bellatrix says, and that is when I make my decision. I'm not going to die _crying_. I'm going to face death, and accept it. I'm going to die proudly, for Teddy, for mother, for Sirius, for Mad-Eye, for Remus. I don't think that it's possible for me to hurt more than I am hurting right now, but the thought of Teddy, _my sweet little boy_, makes me hurt all the much more, because he's going to be an orphan. I'm _leaving_ him.

I try to stop the leaking tears, I try to stop them from falling, because I'm not going to give Bellatrix the satisfaction. I'm not going to give that _bitch_ anything more to laugh about. I straighten my back, grip Remus's lifeless, still-warm hand in my own, and look her straight in the eye, conveying all of my hatred through my glare, even though I'm trembling.

"Go ahead, _bitch_," I hiss. Her eyes narrow and her mouth twists into an ugly sneer.

"Times up, blood-traitor. You should've picked the winning side," she whispers maliciously, and then points her wand at me and shouts, "AVADA KEDAVRA!"

There's a bright flash of green light, and my last thought is, _I'm sorry, Teddy. I'm so sorry. _Then I too crumple, like a puppet that has had its strings cut, on top of my husband, my grip on his hand still firm.

* * *

**Sorry for any typos! I hope you liked it. Don't forget to review! :DD **

**Till next time**

**~SCYS**


End file.
